Travel to Suoi Giang in Vietnam, a tiny town in remote Yen Rai province's misty mountains, is home to one of Vietnam's most ancient teas, one now making its name around the world. Winding your way up from the Van Chan basin, on all sides clumps of wild and cultivated tra (tea) float by while steam and vapours hover above the streams.
Five hours from Hanoi, just off the spectacular Highway 32 (currently being upgraded but due for completion in 2009), Suoi Giang in Vietnam is named after the biggest of the gushing streams that water the forest of tea trees.
Suoi Giang tea is advertised as able to 'enhance your health and intelligence'. The local variety is known as Mountain Snow, and some of the plants are said to be hundreds of years old. While some grow wild, most are cultivated by the local Flower H'mong people in Sapa Vietnam who ascend and descend the mountain all day, the women embroidering.
Suoi Giang is not yet ready for the visitors who are increasingly seeking the green tea and tranquillity. Mr Dang, the Commune Chairman, talked about his plan to develop tourist potential along similar lines to Ta Phin village at Sapa Vietnam. A Thai style guesthouse on stilts is under construction and should open at the end of 2008.
Travel to Vietnam, the area has lots of nooks and cran ruesto explore, and the waterfall created by the Giang stream about 10 minutes' walk downhill from the town. Strolling through the undergrowth along narrow buffalo trails, you don't expect much, but the bush suddenly gives way to a rock-lined basin and a brilliant waterfall, dropping in two stages from an opening in the wall of forest. A high canopy makes the stream a little world of its own. The rocks lining the bed glisten with magical colours and patterns seemingly etched into them by a timeless master craftsman.
Tea-picking is an ancient art and Vietnam is said to be one of the earliest sources. With trees that are said to have trunks that take three people holding hands to girdle, Suoi Giang has perhaps the oldest tea plants in Vietnam. It is on the outer limits of the Ancient Tea-Horse Trail (Chinese: Cbama Gudao) that unce criss-crossed the southern part of the Middle Kingdom, taking tea to Tibet and beyond.
The leaves are picked during the day all year ruund, and taken into a factory to be sorted at night. The tips of the leaves are the most delicate and fine-tasting -the further down the leaf the coarser the taste and the lower the value. Suoi Giang tea uses no chemicals, and is highly prized for its purity.
The best tea can now be bought directly from locals such as Mr Thang for about VND120,000 a kilogram, or from the factory. At present there is only one commercial export factory in town. There used to be a Korean-owned processing plant.
There is not sufficient work for the local H'mong in the tea industry. With six or seven children per couple quite common, and limited space on the mountainside, many are now seeking work elsewhere. Some have gone to Malaysia but have rarely met success, and many have come back with debts they have yet to pay off
Part of the problem is the local proclivity for the odd bowl or ten of ruou (rice liquor). Travel to Suoi Giang Vietnam you may hear the phrase 'Ira du tu« bart' (overflowing with tea and wine), and that doesn't mean life here is all leisurely and carefree. Maybe as this remote spot is discovered, the locals' economy lot wil1 improve.

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